Kanilea makes great ukes. Does anyone know why they put such cheap tuning machines on them? Or care? I would advise anyone buying a new Kanilea to get upgraded tuners. Used ones - you can generally assume you'll be replacing them. Some of them Have real grovers on them, which are likely good enough, but others have no-name brand tuners that are just plain awful. Why, oh why. Kamaka puts decent Schallers on their ukes, Maui Music uses real Grovers. What's with Kanilea?
Not a reason not to buy a Kanilea - it just doesn't make sense.
First I've heard some of the Kanilea tuners were low grade. Now I have heard that the Schallers on Kamakas could do with an upgrade, and wasn't HMS recently offering the Gotoh UPTs on Kamakas? (can't seem to find them on the website now)
My Kanilea has Grover open geared. they are not expensive but work great. I tried a Breedlove that had much more expensive Gotoh open backs, and they worked like cr@p. my Dolphin tuners worked better. go figure.
I noticed that too. The two-on-a-plate kind that come on the least expensive models look identical to some from Chinese sellers on eBay. A few other high-end brands use them too, and some luthiers on UU have said they're decent for the money. But I'd swap 'em out regardless because they look cheap.
The tuners are unbranded but way better than the standard grovers..Kanilea has the same companies that make your Name brand tuners make Kanileas tuners with a improved washer bushing system.
You've got to be kidding that the unbranded ones are better than grovers. I had two with washer failures and I took them off and compared them with Grovers. Not even close. They looked to me like they were made with pot metal and washers were garbage. I will say though, that Kanilea will happily and quickly send you replacements of the exact same quality
However, you can see on the Uke site website - comparing different models they use a variety of tuners, so I'm sure some are better than others. It looks like it may depend on the size and quality level of the uke.
I played 2 kanileas and one had Grover's and not sure what the other one had. I got the one with the Grover's and they seem very nice to me so I'm guessing your talking about the cheaper kanileas
hmm Maybe they should just add their name to it and charge 20.00 more....here look.. Remember I said they added the bushing washer???
A Grover, A pono tuner, A kanilea tuner....
and I'm getting old and sicker.....why does everyone think ukulele companies are trying to nickel and dime you....Seriously...they all want the best that works for their ukes....Its getting harder to always correct all the guesses that people assume on many subjects ( I am not referring to a specific post) We have so many arm chair experts that comment.....its very entertaining sorry but this is just my humble opinion...
A Grover, A pono tuner, A kanilea tuner....
and I'm getting old and sicker.....why does everyone think ukulele companies are trying to nickel and dime you....Seriously...they all want the best that works for their ukes....Its getting harder to always correct all the guesses that people assume on many subjects ( I am not referring to a specific post) We have so many arm chair experts that comment.....its very entertaining sorry but this is just my humble opinion...
Nothing wrong with upgrading your uke tuners when you buy a new uke..I am sure they will subtract the cost of the factory ones, and charge yout just the difference, I have no problem with the factory ones...sheesh...
My Kanilea has Grover open geared. they are not expensive but work great. I tried a Breedlove that had much more expensive Gotoh open backs, and they worked like cr@p. my Dolphin tuners worked better. go figure.
My blackbird 15:1 open gear UK700 Gotoh's and they are the smoothest most accurate open or closed gear tuners I've ever used.
The KPE-T Kanilea I had had closed gear Grover rotomatics that worked good too, but not as nice as the Gotoh.
My blackbird 15:1 open gear UK700 Gotoh's and they are the smoothest most accurate open or closed gear tuners I've ever used.
The KPE-T Kanilea I had had closed gear Grover rotomatics that worked good too, but not as nice as the Gotoh.
Wow, I had no idea that the Blackbird tuners were premium. They always just looked really cheap to me with those white plastic buttons contrasting with the high-tech carbon fiber. (And in fact, was a big reason I didn't buy one of those instruments...but now I see they also offer black tuning buttons that match better.)
And back on topic; I have never had any problems with the standard Grovers on my Kanileas.
I realize many of these comments were not "aimed" at my original post, however I would like to add that:
1. My assessment of some Kanilea tuners wasn't based on asthetics or speculation - just experience, and I not an inexperienced musician or musical instrument owner.
2. No matter who you are or what your expectations are, you won't like tuners that don't work.
